Irish singer BriBry performs at Brandon pub cancer fundraiser

BriBry will perform March 25 to raise money for the Moffitt Cancer Foundation. CATHY WILSON

BY LAURA CONEThe Brandon News

Published: March 12, 2014

Updated: March 12, 2014 at 10:45 AM

BRANDON — Known by some as the “Irish lad off YouTube,” BriBry has taken his online success of more than 8 million views to the stage. On March 25, the 23-year-old Irish singer/songwriter and YouTube blogger will be performing at O'Brien's Irish Pub, 701 W. Lumsden Road, to raise money for the Moffitt Cancer Foundation.

The charity concert will be from 6 to 8 p.m.

Macey Wilson, 17, a senior at Newsome High School, asked him to sing for the cancer charity event when she met BriBry at a meet-up. His name was Brian O'Reilly until he changed it to BriBry Really O'Reilly in 2013.

“What drew me to BriBry's music was that it's not only good, but it also has positive messages,” Wilson said. “His songs are very genuine and he comes across as real in his music and videos.”

Wilson, who lives in FishHawk, said the two have shared the same pain of losing loved ones to cancer. O'Reilly's best friend died of cancer when he was 18. Wilson's aunt and grandfather died of cancer. One of her good friends had leukemia in the ninth grade and is a cancer survivor.

“I wanted to raise money because I've seen so many people's lives be impacted by cancer, and I want to do what I can to help,” she said. “BriBry seemed like the perfect singer for this because he had also been affected first hand from the negative effects of cancer.”

Regarding their initial contact, Wilson said O'Reilly let people know he was visiting the area through social media sites so fans could get together to visit with him.

“A meet-up is basically just what it sounds like,” she said. “If someone is in an area they don't normally go, whether it's another state or another country, they tell people a time and a place that they'll be via a social media site such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube so they can meet each other.”

Wilson, who plans to attend college after graduating from Newsome, intends to have a double major in psychology and mass communications with a minor in theater.

Cathy Wilson, Macey's mom, said she is supportive of her daughter's charity efforts. She noted BriBry works with a cancer charity in Ireland as well as Cut Cakes Not Wrists, which deals with people who self-inflict harm.

“He also does some videos that prompt good self-esteem among young people and some are just silly young guy videos that can be a bit crass but nothing bad,” Cathy Wilson said.

Cathy said he will be performing at a huge YouTube convention called Playlist Live in Orlando on March 21-23.

“I call it 'Irish pop,' but my daughter disagrees on this label,” she said, adding people can check him out at bribry.com.

A minimum donation of $10 will be collected at the door to raise money for Moffitt.